Tesco on the Golden Key (pub site)?

Many thanks for your leaflet about the planning application for a Tesco store on the Golden Key pub site on the Woodbridge Road.

I am opposed to this application because:

1) There are truly excellent shops close by, particularly Chris’s Veg and Mickleson’s Butchers that offer local, quality produce at very reasonable prices.
2) The local coop convenience stores offer an excellent selection of products, including many local products, for people who need to shop in the evening.
3) We really do not need any more nationally supplied food stores here in Ipswich. At a time of rising fuel prices we should be focussing on helping local food producers to stay in business, and, dare I say it, to thrive. We’re going to need them in the future.

I run Suffolk’s first vegetable growing Community Supported Agriculture scheme at The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm www.the-oak-tree.co.uk in Rushmere-St-Andrew. We have been awarded the Suffolk Carbon Charter, and were short listed for a “Creating the Greenest County” award by Suffolk County Council in our first year. We have had no public funding whatsoever in setting up our project.

I am not concerned that a Tesco store on the site of the Golden Key pub would affect our veg-growing community a great deal as our members are committed to supporting local, sustainable food producers. However, were the planning application to be approved I believe it would send Ipswich residents the message that creating a truly sustainable, local supply of fresh food at a reasonable price for the residents of Ipswich and surrounding area is a low priority for Ipswich Borough Council. I’m counting on you to send us just the opposite message!